THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK at the Dorie Theatre/The Complex

Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw Some seventy plus years after it was first published, Anne Frank’s heartrending story still tugs irresistibly at the heart. Wendy Kesselman’s adaptation of the original play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett has special significance for our highly contentious political climate.Read more… Rob Stevens – Haines His Way For … Read more

DEATH HOUSE at The Road on Lankershim

Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw Few elements of the criminal justice system generate more discourse and lack of consensus than capital punishment. There are now some 3,000 men and women on death row in the United States, many of whom have been languishing there for decades. Closer to home, California, which has 744 condemned … Read more

SHOWPONY at the Victory Theatre

Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw Like so many of our social and/or cultural environments, today’s workplace is radically different from what it was many decades ago when the centers of power were pretty much the sole province of white males. American women had their “stations,” and not too much concern was given over to … Read more

THE TURN OF THE SCREW at the Harold Clurman Laboratory Theatre

Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw The Turn of the Screw, Henry James’s novelette involving the supernatural, is one of a select number of short fictional works that have consistently attracted critical valuation. First published in 1898, it’s since been fruitful material for many artistic renderings.Read more… Now running through October 31

OTHELLO – Griot Theatre at The Actor’s Company

Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw Like most of Shakespeare’s greatest works, this familiar tale of jealousy, love and betrayal readily lends itself to critical exploration and original adaptations. Although it was written over four hundred years ago, it’s particularly relevant in these neurotic times given our seemingly endless obsession with ethnic identity and matters … Read more

A 60’S TRILOGY at The New American Theatre

Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw Presented by the USVAA Vets Repertory and Revenant Stage (formerly the Elephant Theatre), Tommy Carter’s trio of one-acts is capably directed by David Fofi. All of them evoke disquieting recollections of the America of the 1960’s, a period like no other in our nation’s history….Read more… Now running through … Read more

MARIAN, OR THE TRUE TALE OF ROBIN HOOD at Theatre of NOTE

Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw Male actors have always had a lock on the role of Robin of Locksley, whether on stage or screen, but now the provocative Kirsten Vangsness crashes the hallowed fraternity and dons the green feathered cap in this “gender-bending, patriarchy-smashing, hilarious new take on the classic Robin Hood myth.”  The … Read more

THE MOTHER-F**KER WITH THE HAT at the Gloria Gifford Conservancy

Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw Plays about broken people dealing with issues of addiction, violence, and toxic sexuality are legion, but they don’t always translate into provocative and humorous theater. Both qualities are found in this dour comedy by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright .Read more… Now running through August 26

RED SPEEDO at the Road Theatre Company

Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw The legendary Vince Lombardi once declared that, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” (Actually the slogan was first voiced by UCLA Bruins football coach Henry Russell “Red” Sanders in 1950; Lombardi probably got it from him). It has now become a venerated mantra, a toxic call to action willingly embraced … Read more

NATIVE SON at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center

Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly I wish one could say that Nambi E. Kelley’s incisive adaptation of novelist Richard Wright’s Native Son, brilliantly staged at Antaeus Theatre Ensemble under Andi Chapman’s direction, was testament to a 20th-century mindset we’ve long transcended. But as many of us are painfully aware, the stereotyping of minorities — and in … Read more